It’s been four 1/2 weeks since Kevin stepped foot in his own home. When I saw him getting off the Medi-Trans, I nearly cried – it’s so good to have him home!
Life is going to be pretty hectic for the next eight or so weeks. I will be his primary caregiver which means I’ll be bathing him, helping him to the commode (our bathrooms are too narrow for his wheelchair and besides, he’s not stable enough to use a regular toilet), transferring him to his wheelchair and doling out six different medications (some of that is pain pills and calcium and vitamin D to promote bone growth). In addition, I have to prepare for a nurse to come out twice a week to take blood samples because he’s on a blood thinner and they have to closely monitor that. Oh, and physical therapists are supposed to come by and work with him, too, but I have no idea when their scheduled to do that.
All of this in addition to family and his boss coming over at regular intervals to see him and catch up on work. Our days are pretty busy.
We (and by “we” I mean the boys), transferred his work computer from his office to the dining room table yesterday afternoon, so now Kevin can wheel himself up to the table and get his work done. Thank goodness the company is winding down and he’s just wrapping up loose ends – I can’t imagine how that would work with him taking on a full work load, he can’t take being in his wheelchair for more than about four hours before he starts feeling weak from pain and fatigue.
Life moved at warp speed yesterday. The medical supply store delivered his bed, trapeze, commode and shower chair (which I highly doubt we’ll get to use, at least for quite some time) at about 11:00 o’clock. Kevin’s mom stuck around our house all morning so she could meet the delivery guys and direct them on where to set everything up.
I stayed at the hospital with Kevin and cleaned out his room as well as prepare him for transport. The doctor was kind enough to show Kevin his x-rays before we left. The only x-ray Kevin had seen was the work they did on his right side. The doctor showed him his original fractures (the films were only 45 minutes old from the time of his accident) to the most recent films – all of his hardware. It was quite impressive, actually. I think we’re supposed to get a copy of it at some point. I hope we do, I’d love to share it with you.
I call him my own personal Iron Man. I’m not sure Kevin likes the comparison, quite frankly. 😀
At 2:00, the transport guy showed up. (Naturally. I had to ask my father-in-law to pick the boys up. Why must everything happen at the same time??) All of the nurses gave him quite a send off, complete with hugs. (They were all so nice to him. They flat out told him he was their best patient. I’m sure he was quite different than what they were used to. Most of their patients were over 70 years old).
The Medi-Trans guy loaded Kevin up and once I saw he was safely inside the vehicle, I hurried home to upload my car and get ready for his arrival. Kevin’s mom had bought balloons and it was quite something to watch him being wheeled down our sidewalk once again. My nephew had come over to mow the grass (he does such a GREAT job) so our lawn looked nice for him.
The new ramp looks so nice and I think Kevin really appreciated it being there so he could easily get into the house. The first thing he wanted to do was look at the house. I wheeled him around and found out that the space between the bookcase and the cabinet in our kitchen is almost not big enough for him to squeeze through. It can be done, but I have to do a little dance to get him there. So he’ll have to enter the kitchen another way if he wants to sit at the kitchen table with us for dinner.
The front bathroom is a wash. The doorway is simply too narrow for him to pass through. (I knew it would be). And he can get into our bedroom, but again, it takes some fancy footwork. But he can wheel himself easily through the rest of the house, so it’s not all bad.
The important thing is, he’s home now. He can rest up and prepare to start putting weight on his legs in about nine weeks and THEN the REAL work will begin.
For him, at least.
Write From Karen 